


When I Touch The Water

by littleskyangel



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: AU, Dancing, Friendship, I just wanted to get this out, Lucis, Music, Niflheimr | Niflheim, Noctis absolutely biffs it, Not quite sure what happened here, Prompto is a dork, The Oh Hello's, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleskyangel/pseuds/littleskyangel
Summary: Noctis Lucis Caelum absolutely hates Niffs. But what happens when he actually meets one face to face? Also dancing ensues.





	When I Touch The Water

**Author's Note:**

> Slight AUish in the sense that Niflheim isn't at war with Lucis and Noctis is kind of an asshole in this fic. 
> 
> Inspired by the song "The Lament of Eustace Scrubb" by The Oh Hello's. Please go listen to it while/before/after reading this fic, it really makes me wanna get up and dance! Also I went to my cousin's wedding this past weekend and apparently Russian Orthodox weddings are super big on group dances, so that also influenced the direction of this fic. A little drabble that I came up with when procrastinating homework, because that's obviously the best thing to do when finals are looming before me. Enjoy!

_ Father, have mercy _

_ We both know I have gone astray _

 

Noctis absolutely hated the Niffs. Hailing from the civil war torn country next to Lucis, he thought of them as nothing more than leeches, too weak or too unwilling to make do with their plight in Niflheim. He hated how they poured into Lucis by the thousands, seeking asylum from a war that they started themselves. Why couldn’t they just fix their own country? Why did his father, King Regis have to welcome them with open arms, and bless them with food and shelter like they deserved it? They didn’t, for astrals’ sake! It was their fault that their country was in shambles. They should just fix the problem themselves and leave Lucis out of it goddammit. King Regis, however disagreed.

 

_ When I saw my demons _

_ I knew them and I welcomed them _

 

“They are our neighbors, Noctis. I know the civil war has nothing to do with us, but thousands of  innocent people are dying every day in that country. It would be unjust of us to add to their troubles.”

“What kind of people just turn on each other like that?! It would be better for them to work it out between themselves, like civilized human beings! They’re nothing more than pests!”

“Noctis, they are innocent people. And I will continue to treat them as such.” 

_ Pests,  _ he thought, kicking an unlucky stone in front of him on the sidewalk as he strode along. 

He was on his way to Luna’s house so that he could say goodbye to her before she left to visit her brother Ravus for the weekend. On his way, he noticed a crowd and the distant sound of music coming from the park off the side of the road. Curiosity getting the best of him, he abandoned his mission of getting to Luna’s house as quickly as possible in favor of catching a glimpse of the source of the commotion. 

As he approached the park, Noctis could hear music more clearly. Noctis recognized the instruments. The guitar, the box drum, the violin: it was Niflheim music. Noctis groaned, and prepared to be on his merry way again when a loud whooping drew his attention once more. Curiosity once again getting the better of him, he told himself he would just take a quick peek, just to satisfy his curiosity. 

Drawing ever nearer to the crowd of people, Noctis could see the band of Niffs backed up against the large water fountain that lived in the middle of the park, singing and playing their acoustic instruments. Noctis could also see that a dance ring hand formed in the middle of the crowd in front of the band, with several people dancing wildly to the beat of the music. The entire scene was ridiculous. 

Noctis hated Niffs.

 

_ But I’ll come around _

_ Someday _

 

But Noctis saw him there, dancing like he was on top of the whole wide world. His golden hair bouncing and flowing along with his body to the strum of the guitar and the beat of the drum. His limbs gracefully tore through the air akin the sound of the violin, holding a faraway look on his face, clearly lost in the music. 

The blonde young man locked eyes with Noctis. Grinning widely, he made his way through the sea of dancing people to approach him. Embarrassed that he had been caught staring, Noctis looked around for a means of escape before the blonde reached him. He didn’t find one in time. 

Suddenly, the blonde was right in front of him with that same stupid grin on his face. He held out his hand.

“Dance with me!” 

And just like that, Noctis was dragged out of the safety and anonymity of the crowd and into the middle of the dance circle that had formed in front of the band. The blonde spun him around, laughing and completely unaware of Noctis’ sputtering protests and his red face.

 

_ And I’ll come around _

_ Someday _

 

The blonde tugged Noctis into a spot in the circle.

“It’s a group dance, so just follow my lead!” the blonde exclaimed. He then launched into a series of complicated steps that matched the rest of the dancers’ with Noctis doing his best to keep up. 

Step, clap clap clap, step, clap clap clap, step, step STOMP and spin with the music! Into the circle and out with the crowd, hand in hand! Noctis moved with the rest of the dancers as they circled left, then right, then left again, whooping and hollering all the while.

Noctis gasped as the blonde twirled the two of them suddenly and lead them around the sea of dancers to the rhythm of the music.

“I thought you said this was a group dance!” Noctis yelped, caught off guard by the sudden change in direction.

“I mean, that part was!” Noctis let the blonde lead him around in a rapid, disjointed version of a waltz. The dancing style was different from the traditional ballroom dances he had been taught by his tutors, and Noctis struggled to keep with the quicker pace. He caught on to the pattern of steps and grew more confident, moving perfectly in sync with his partner. He let the blonde throw him out for a spin, and for a moment, he felt the world disappear, and it was just him and the music and- 

“OH SHIT!” the blonde yelled, diving for Noctis after he failed to catch his hand. Noctis threw his arms out stumbled backwards, suddenly thrown off balance.

And he fell right into the looming water fountain.

 

_ When I touch the water _

_ They tell me I could be set free _

 

“Oh man, that was completely my bad. Sorry about that, man!” the blonde apologized as he helped Noctis out of the water. 

“It’s alright,” Noctis replied, shaking water out of his hair like a wet dog.

“You were pretty good at all of that by the way! Well, I mean up until the point where I accidentally let you go. I remember the first time I tried that dance I tripped and fell right into the entire band,” the blonde said, chuckling.

“You did not,” said Noctis, eyes wide with disbelief and amusement.

“Yep. My sister still won’t let it go,” sighed the blonde, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Well, I don’t suppose that I would either if I had the chance to witness that,” said Noctis, silently relieved that he wasn’t the only one to spectacularly fail at dancing. He continued, “By the way, I never caught your name before you pulled me to my watery doom.”

“Ah, sorry about that! My name i-”

“PROMPTO!” Prompto yelped in surprise and spun around to face a woman with silver hair marching towards them.

“Aranea! Sis!” he exclaimed. “You… didn’t happen to see that one, did you?”

“What, you absolutely chucking this poor boy into the water fountain?” She nodded to Noctis. “You alright there, kid?” 

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Hey, it wasn’t on purpose! His hand slipped out of mine on the spin and he went flying, there wasn’t anything I could do really!” 

“Mhmm,” Aranea replied with a toss of her head. “Anyways, the next dance is about to start and I need a partner. So let’s go.” Before Prompto could say anything, Aranea grabbed his hand and was towing him behind her to the group of dancers who were lining up in preparation for the next dance. 

Prompto turned around long enough wave goodbye and call out a farewell to Noctis. “Let’s do this again sometime, it was fun!” 

Noctis waved his own hand in return. “Yeah, sure!” he called out awkwardly, unsure of anything else to say. He watched Prompto and Aranea as they disappeared once more into the crowd, then turned away to finish his short journey to Luna’s house, whistling the tune of the song that they had danced to and pondering what had just happened.  

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Annnnddd that's it! Not my best work, but then again I haven't actually sat down and written anything in forever. Please tell me what you think!


End file.
